Meyer and the age 27 cutoff

With Dan Meyer’s excellent performance last night (0 runs, 4 hits, 3 K’s in 4 innings), hope rises that he can make the majors, at least as a long reliever. A promising fastballer in the Braves system, he hurt his shoulder almost as soon as he came over in the Tim Hudson deal, hid the injury and worsened it.

Meyer isn’t the power lefty the A’s traded for, but he seems to be spotting his pitches well and his AAA numbers are pretty good.

A lot of people are rooting for Dan, partly because he’s unusually polite. But he’s 27, so this looks to be his last chance before he becomes a non-prospect. As Todd Linden learned, once you pass the sell-by date it doesn’t matter how well you perform in spring training and the minors.

Some analysts think it’s a myth that players peak at age 27. And — trivia time — who’ll be first to name a Hall of Famer who didn’t reach the major leagues until three months before his 29th birthday?